Tied Together with a Smile
by Adeline17
Summary: A look at life on Post and inside the Sherwood family from one of their own...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Army Wives or any of it's characters…I just like to play with them…

A/N: This is AU in that I've created an OC, but I don't plan to get too wrapped up in her – she's really just there to help shed some light onto the Sherwood family and life on post. This is a work in progress, so feedback is greatly appreciated…happy reading!

* * *

_Chapter One:_

"Now, Jeremy, I'm going to be checking my e-mail every chance I get, so let me know about West Point when you get word, all right?"

"Yes, sir."

"All right now, you're the man of the house while I'm gone so…"

Jeremy broke in, "Dad, I've been the man of the house since I was seven."

"I know. Look, I expect you to act like it. Now don't disappoint me."

"I won't."

When her brother walked away, Caroline stepped over. "Carrie Leigh, I expect you to e-mail me too. Keep me updated on life at school."

"Yes, sir." She gave him a hug.

"I want you to call your mother every night," he said softly. "Make sure she's okay."

"I always do." She smiled as she broke away from the hug. "I love you, Daddy."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Love you too, baby girl."

Caroline went to join her brother so their parents could have some privacy. It was a pattern they had, every time he deployed. Jeremy first, then Caroline, and finally their mom would say goodbye. Then they'd watch him board the bus and wait for it to leave. It had been like that for almost as long as Caroline could remember – the Post would change, but the pattern wouldn't. She got used to, just like she had with the moving, but that didn't mean it got any easier.

* * *

Roxy sat on her front porch attempting to study the notes on Post regulations that Trevor had left her. As she studied, she kept a watchful eye on her boys who were playing on their small front lawn. She looked up to see Finn throw the ball wildly and send it flying in the direction of a woman jogging on the sidewalk.

"Boys!" she scolded, jumping up from her seat. Thankfully, the jogger was paying attention and managed to catch the ball. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it." The young brunette smiled and tossed the ball back at the boys.

"No, I'm always telling them to be more careful."

"Really, ma'am, it's fine." She started up the walk and introduced herself. "I'm Caroline Sherwood."

She offered her hand. "Roxy LeBlanc. That's T.J. and Finn."

"Hi boys." She waved at the two boys, who waved back before returning to their game of catch. "Are you new to the post?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "But I'm guessing you're not."

"No, ma'am."

"By the way you use ma'am, I'm going to guess you're Army."

"No, ma'am."

"A wife?"

"Child." Caroline smiled. "Well, nineteen-year-old daughter."

"I thought you looked way to young too be a wife, but I've offended enough people already I didn't want to chance it."

"Adjusting to the Post can be tough, but you get used to it."

"Did you grow up here?"

"No, ma'am. We moved around more when I was younger, but we've been here for the last few years."

"So you're an army brat then?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay, you have got to stop calling me 'ma'am' – I am not that much older than you."

"Sorry." Caroline bit her lip sheepishly. "It's a habit. My dad's a Major, so he's very strict on the good order and discipline of my brother and me."

"Major Sherwood." Roxy thought for a moment. "I think I met him the other night – at that promotion ceremony."

"He was there with my mom."

"So a major, which one is that?"

"You mean rank?"

"Yeah."

"0-4."

"Right." Roxy nodded unconvincingly and then pointed at the stack of notes she had left on the porch. "My husband – Trevor – he's been trying to teach me all that."

"Sally Field Can't Make Light-Cake or Cookies But Makes Lovely Gelatin."

"What?"

"It's an mnemonic for the commissioned ranks: Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lt. Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier-General, Major-General, Lieutenant-General, and General."

"You come up with that?"

"Heck no." Caroline laughed. "I learned it that way when I was younger. It really helped, and now I have a neat little party trick – okay, not that neat, but it did impress my boyfriend."

"He on the post?"

She shook her head. "He was, but his dad was transferred to Fort Monroe, so he lives in Virginia now whenever he goes him."

"He in college?"

"About to finish his third year at West Point."

"Older man – you're dad okay with that?"

"Mostly." She shrugged. "Our dads were stationed together a few times when we were kids, so the families know each other pretty well. My dad's biggest concern is that I'll do something foolish like not finish school."

"So you and the boy are serious?"

"Thomas and I have been together since the end of tenth grade, so three years next week."

"That's a lifetime compared to me and Trevor – I've only known him for sixteen days." Roxy's hand flew over her mouth. "I can't believe I just told you that. Not that I don't trust you or anything, it's just that I don't think the rest of the 'wives club' would be cool with that."

"Your secret's safe with me."

"Thanks – I've given them enough gossip as is."

"You'll find a niche here," Caroline assured her, but received a skeptical look in response. "Eventually."

"Hopefully."

"You should check out AFTB – Army Family Team Building – they should have some resources to help too."

"Thanks."

"No problem. I really should get home, but let me give you my number. I'll be home for the summer in a couple of weeks, and I am an excellent babysitter."

"That is good to know." Roxy grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and jotted down the number Caroline gave her.

"It was nice meeting you."

"You too."

"I'll see you around."

"Bye," Roxy called out to the girl as she jogged away with a smile.

* * *

Caroline returned from her run to find her house quiet. She made her way to the kitchen where she found her brother. "Hey, Jeremy. Where's Mom?"

"Exchange." He set down the magazine he was reading. "You're late."

"So?" She shrugged, filling a glass with water. "I ran into a new wife – we talked."

"You said you'd be back by 1200 hours."

"I'm ten minutes late." She took a gulp of her water. "It's not a big deal."

"If Dad was here…"

She cut him off. "But he's not, so can you give me a break."

"You can't just follow the rules when you feel like it – it's about order and discipline, Carrie Leigh."

"It's Caroline," she said through gritted teeth. Finishing her drink, she set the glass in the sink. "When did you become Mr. Hardass?"

"I'm disciplined, and you've had an attitude problem since you went away to school."

"Excuse me, _little _brother." Caroline folded her arms and glared at him.

"Dad's gone, so I'm the man of the house."

"Whatever." She held up her hands in mock surrender and began to walk past him, but his hand grabbed her wrist. "Jeremy!"

"You need to adjust your attitude."

She tried to jerk her hand from his grasp. "Let go." They glared at each other for a few moments before he let go. Caroline shot her brother a disgusted look and walked out of the room. "I'm going to go shower."

* * *

Roxy sat on her porch in the morning enjoying the hour before her children woke up. Trevor had left for training at 0600, so she was able to have some alone time. As she sat, she noticed a familiar figure running toward her house.

"Good morning, Caroline."

The girl slowed her run to a jog. "Good morning, Mrs. LeBlanc."

Roxy stood up. "I thought I told you to call me Roxy."

"I know." Carloine quickly made her way onto the porch. "Do you see the two women across the street?"

She took a subtle look over Caroline's shoulder. "Yeah."

"Well, Mrs. Anders and Mrs. Cagle would just _love_ to tell all of their friends that Major Sherwood's daughter was behaving in a disrespectful manner."

"You serious?"

"This place runs on gossip."

"I'm beginning to see that." Roxy chuckled. "You're out early today."

"Compared to yesterday, yeah." She shrugged. "Normally I start out at 0600 when my dad leaves the house, but he left for the Middle East yesterday, so I slept in."

"You call this sleeping in?"

"I've only been up since 0700."

Roxy did the math in her head. "You've been running for forty minutes?"

"Have to keep off the freshman fifteen."

"You?" Roxy scoffed, shaking her head. "Girl, if I had your figure…"

"Because when I look at you, I think 'old hag.'" She laughed, brushing a brown hair behind her ear as she spoke.

Roxy's eyes narrowed in on a bruise on the girl's left wrist. 'Hey, what's this?"

"Nothing." Caroline covered her arm with the opposite hand.

"It doesn't look like nothing."

"It is."

"Look, Caroline, I know we just met, but if someone is hurting you…"

She cut her off. "I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I'm fine. My brother and I were arguing and he grabbed my arm. He forgets how strong he is – that's it."

"So this has happened before?"

"Do you have any brothers?"

"No."

"Well, then let me explain it. Jeremy and I fight – we're siblings and we both forget that we're 'big kids' now. It was an accident – really."

Roxy continued to be skeptical, especially after the partial conversation she had overheard in the bathroom between Denise Sherwood and Claudia Joy Holden, but she decided to let it go. "Okay, but if you ever need someone to talk to…"

"I'll come on by." Caroline smiled. "But I really should continue my run – I'm driving back to school this afternoon."

"Have fun."

"Bye!" Caroline waved as she jogged off.

* * *

A/N: So, what'd you think? Good? Bad? Please let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Army Wives or any of its characters…I just like to play with them…

A/N: I was so excited to see the reviews on this…it made my day! I'm going to try and update on an almost weekly schedule, but it's going to come down to my work schedule. Anyway, I try to get into the dynamic of Jeremy and Caroline as brother and sister…I hope you all like it!

* * *

_Chapter 2:_

"Ugh!" Caroline said dramatically as she tossed her suitcase on the hotel bed. She and Jeremy had just checked into a Holiday Inn in Durham. They had spent the afternoon packing her stuff from her dorm room into the family car so Jeremy could drive it back to South Carolina the next morning. Caroline would then drive her car up to Virginia Beach where she was meeting Thomas, her boyfriend, for a weekend.

Flopping back against the pillows, she glanced over at her brother. "I'm exhausted."

"Wimp!" Jeremy said with a smirk as he sat down on the opposite bed.

"We've been packing for the last five hours."

"Yeah, I noticed. You know, if you had been more organized we'd have been done in four."

Caroline rolled her eyes at him. "That's easy for you to say. I had a term paper for my Russian Novels class due yesterday and a Greek Myths final this morning."

"Poor baby," he teased.

"Shut-up." She laughed, throwing a pillow at him.

He caught it mid-air. "I thought you were tired."

"I am." She sighed, sitting up. "But I need to shower."

"Aren't you going to shower in the morning?"

Caroline stood up and began going through her suitcase. "Yeah. Why?"

"It's after six – why are you showering now?"

"Because we're going to eat dinner."

"I'm picking up take-out and we're going to eat in the room," he reasoned. Looking at his sister, he couldn't understand why she wanted to shower. Yes, they had been packing all afternoon, but it hadn't been hot as they worked and Caroline looked extremely put together despite her casual attire of jeans and a t-shirt. "You're not going to see anyone but me for the rest of the night and you look fine."

"That's not the point," she said, grabbing her bag of toiletries from the suitcase and setting it on top the stack of clothes she had pulled out.

"Then what is?"

"I don't know, Jer…" she trailed off with a sigh. "Why do you care so much?"

"I don't." He shrugged. "I just think that sometimes you don't realize how much like Mom you are."

"And is that a bad thing?"

Her question hung in the air for a moment before Jeremy said, "Just take your shower; I'll go get the food."

After Jeremy left, Caroline gathered her things and went into the bathroom. She thought about what he said regarding her behavior. Showering before dinner was a very mom-like move. Their mother always had stressed the importance of dinner as a central activity of the family. It was something so engrained in Caroline that she still felt the need to behave accordingly, even if it was just for dinner with her brother.

Jeremy's reaction to her behavior didn't really surprise her much. When they were younger, both siblings would try to get out of washing up before they ate – staying outside for an extra five minutes seemed much more appealing than looking nice for dinner. As they got older, neither minded the family dinner rules as much. Caroline knew that it stilled annoyed Jeremy on some level, but she wrote that off to him being a teenage guy.

* * *

An hour later, Jeremy and Caroline sat on the edges of their respective beds with near-empty containers of Chinese food in front of them.

"Do you want the rest of my lo mein?" Caroline asked, holding the container out in front of her as an offering.

"No thanks."

"You sure?" She waved the box with a flourish. "It's delicious."

He held up his container of kung pao chicken. "I've got my own food."

"Well, let me know." She set the container on the ground. "Is it fortune cookie time?"

"I'm still eating, remember?"

"Now, who's being mom-like?" Caroline asked with a smirk. Every time the Sherwoods moved to a new post they would pack up all the stuff in their current residence and then eat take-out Chinese food for dinner. Their mom had a rule that they could open their fortune cookie only after everyone was finished with his or her meal.

"Just eat your cookie," Jeremy said, tossing the bag with the cookies at her.

"No – I'll wait." She set the bag on her lap, closed her eyes, and pulled out one of the two cookies. Setting it aside, she handed the other one back to Jeremy. After a couple minutes, he was done with his food and Caroline broke into a grin. "It's cookie time."

"You know, I'll never understand why you love these so much – they're just cookies."

"With fortunes!"

"That were put inside the cookie by some factory worker somewhere."

"You suck, you know that," she said as she cracked open her cookie. Pulling out the slip of white paper, she unfolded it and read aloud, "_If you try to please everyone, no one will like it._"

"That's deep," Jeremy mocked.

"Just open yours."

"_A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory_," he read from his cookie, thinking about all the things that currently rested in his conscience.

"Hmm," she mused as she took a bite of her cookie. "I wonder what that could mean – do you have any secret confessions you need to make?"

"Only one or two, but if I told you, I'd have to kill you." He joked. "Who are you trying to please?"

"Let's she." She began counting off on her fingers. "Dad, Mom, my professors…"

"Thomas?"

"I don't have to try to please Thomas."

"That's right, the boyfriend loves you just the way you are."

Caroline smiled, despite his teasing tone. "One day, you'll understand Jeremy. You'll fall in love and…"

He broke in, "The sun will shine, birds will sing, and rainbows will appear."

"You know, I'm trying to have a serious conversation here and you keep interrupting."

"Sorry." He began cleaning up the Chinese food. "You were saying?"

"Thank you." She was fully aware he was just humoring her, but she continued anyway. "As I was saying, you'll fall in love and everything will change."

"Are you and Thomas that in love?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"You think?"

"Well, I'm not ready to drop out of school for him like Mom did for Dad, but I can't imagine my life without him."

"That's good," he said sincerely. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks." She smiled back at him. "Now why don't you go throw these out in the hallway trash before this moment of sibling bonding gets too weird."

* * *

After watching reruns of Futurama and The Simpson's, the siblings turned off the lights in an attempt to get some sleep. Of course, having not seen each other for a while, Caroline and Jeremy stayed awake chatting. Following a discussion of Jeremy's English teacher, Caroline asked,

"How's Mom?"

"She's fine – she's Mom."

"You sure? I talked to her yesterday and she sounded upset."

"She just misses Dad – you know how she gets."

"Yeah, I guess." Caroline sighed. She knew that family meant everything to their mother and that the times when their dad wasn't in the house were always hard on her. "Do you think that it's harder on her now that we're older?"

"What do you mean?"

"When we were younger, she was busy taking care of us – making sure we were happy and had everything we needed. Now, she doesn't have us to focus on as much. I just wonder about how she'll be when Dad's deployed and you and I are both away at school."

"She'll be fine," he said quickly, almost sounding like he didn't care.

"How do you know that?"

"Because she's a grown woman and can take care of herself."

Caroline looked up at the ceiling through the darkness as she spoke. "Then why do I feel like we have to protect her?"

"Because that's how Dad always acts."

"I guess." What Jeremy said made sense. Their dad was very traditional when it came to their mom and there was always a clear sense of order in the house. So Caroline dropped the subject and opted for a new one. "I told Thomas you got accepted into West Point. He's happy for you."

"Okay."

"You don't sound happy."

"I'm tired," he said, hoping she'd let it go. His feelings about West Point were not something he felt like discussing at the moment.

"Jer…" she began, but trailed off when she realized that he may legitimately be tired. "Never mind. Just go to sleep. We'll talk later – goodnight."

"Goodnight."

* * *

A/N: I love reading your feedback…please keep it coming! 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Army Wives or any of its characters…I just like to play with them…

A/N: Sorry about the delay in posting…things always seem to get crazy and I never have time to update…gah! Anyway, here's the next part…I hope you all enjoy it!

* * *

_Chapter 3:_

Caroline tapped her foot impatiently on the floor while her phone range. It was a little before 11pm on Sunday night after a whirlwind twenty-four hours with Thomas. They met up in Virginia Beach around lunchtime and had dinner with his parents' house on post at Fort Monroe. That night they left the parents for a hotel near the beach.

Thomas was the reason she was currently alone. Unlike Caroline who was finished with her semester, Thomas had to return to west Point for finals and his responsibilities as a second-class cadet during graduation week. Normally, the couple would wait until summer leave to spend time together, but Thomas was going straight from school to Germany for training, which meant no leave until mid-July, so they squeezed in a visit.

Even though it was rushed, Caroline had the most romantic night of her nineteen years. Unfortunately, Thomas had to leave at 2pm for the almost eight hour drive back to West Point, so Charlotte said goodbye and spent the rest of the day with Thomas' parents. After dinner, Caroline started her own 7½ hour drive home. She made it halfway before stopping at a hotel. After a quick shower, she picked up the phone to call home. Now all someone had to do was pick up.

"Major Sherwood's residence." Jeremy's voice finally came over the line.

"Hey Jeremy."

"Hey Caroline." He glanced at the clock, and concern crept into his voice when he saw how late it was. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah – I'm at a hotel near Fayettville."

'Then why are you calling so late?"

"I wanted to talk to Mom."

"She's out."

"Our mother?"

"She's helping a friend who just had a baby."

"That makes sense." She paused. "But I was seriously hoping you'd say she was a Jody bar."

"Like that would happen." Jeremy laughed. "So what's up?"

"Thomas and I got engaged!"

"Wow – congrats."

"Thanks." She looked down at the ring on her hand. "I still can't believe it's real."

"The engagement or the rock?"

"Shut-up." She chuckled good-naturedly. "Do you have to be so cynical?"

"I'm really happy for you."

"I know." She leaned back against the pillows on her bed. "This is turning out to be an excellent month. I know Dad's deployed, but I'm engaged and you're going off to West Point…"

Jeremy cut her off. "I'm not going."

"What?"

"I'm not going to West Point."

"Since when?"

"Since I decided."

"But R-Day's in less than five weeks," she argued, referring to the first day of Cadet Basic Training or Beast. Between dating Thomas and growing up on posts, Caroline was more than familiar with West Point's schedule for the incoming plebe class.

"I don't care!"

"Have you really thought about this? Attending West Point is a huge honor. The education alone…"

He cut her off again. "God, Carrie, you sound just like Mom!"

"So what?" Caroline's voice raised to match his tone. "This has been your dream for so long and now you're just going to walk away."

"I can't walk away from something I never wanted!"

"Jer, this is nerve talking – it's an overwhelming commitment."

"I'm not scared."

"I didn't say you were," she said calmly. "I just want you to think before you throw away your dreams."

'It's not my dream – not that you'd understand."

"Try me."

"You can't understand because you're the golden child."

"No, that would be you – you're the son, remember?"

"But you're the perfect daughter. You don't drink, you don't smoke, you have a scholarship at Duke, and now you're engaged to a West Point Cadet. You're going to be the perfect army wife just like Mom. What more could Dad want?"

Caroline was surprised by the bitterness she heard in her brother's voice. She knew that living up to their dad's standards was difficult, but she had no idea that Jeremy was so upset. "I accepted Thomas' proposal because I love him – the fact that I'm going to be an army wife is incidental. But this isn't about me, or Mom or Dad – it's about you, Jeremy, so talk to me."

After a moment of silence, Jeremy spoke, "Don't you ever get tired of being all Army all the time?"

"Yeah, sometimes – do you?"

"It seems like our family lives and breathes for the Army."

Caroline could sense that her brother wasn't ready to say more, so she spoke instead. "That's one of the tings I've thought about a lot over the last year. Ever since Thomas and I got serious, I've been wondering if I'm really okay with spending the rest of my life tied to the Army. Do I really want to have to pack up my life and move every three years until Thomas retires? This life can make you give up so much. But then I think of everything we've gotten from the Army – we've lived all over the world, met so many people, and been a part of something so much bigger than just our family."

"You're romanticizing it, Carrie," Jeremy told her. "Think of everyone you've had to say goodbye to over the years, all the times you had start over in a new school, the deployments, and the constant 'yes sirs,' 'no ma'ams,' and 0600 hours – not to mention always wondering if when the phone rings it will be someone telling you Dad's dead."

"Sure there's bad stuff too, but the civilian world has just as many problems – we just never experienced them."

"Maybe I want to." He paused and she waited for him to continue. "You've gotten to go away to school, but I've never lived without the Army. And if I go to West Point, I'm signing away the next nine years of my life, and for what, to make Dad happy?"

"Do you really not want to go?"

"No – at least not now. Mom and Dad have wanted West Point for me since before I could walk. At one point, I wanted to go, but now it's more about them. I've never been anything but 'Major Sherwood's Son' – I just want to be Jeremy, you know?"

"Yeah." She nodded even though he couldn't see her. "Have you told them?"

"Just Mom."

"And?"

"She wants me to reconsider."

"Understandable."

"I don't know how to tell Dad."

"Look, Jeremy, when I get home I'll help you figure this out."

"You're not alone in this."

"Thanks, Carrie."

"Anytime." She smiled. "I'll be home tomorrow afternoon – we'll talk then."

"Okay – good night."

"Good night."

* * *

_Ding-dong._

Roxy and Denise looked at each other in concern. They had been watching the babies in the empty Holden house without incident until the ringing of the doorbell.

"Do we get that?"

"We can't ignore it." Denise looked down at the baby in her arms.

"Why not?"

"My car's out front – it would be suspicious. Besides, you said that Lenore Baker already has been here once today." She looked at Roxy's free arm. "Can you take both?"

"Yeah, just let me sit down first."

With Roxy seated in a rocking chair with the sleeping twins, Denise straightened her skirt and headed to the front door. Glancing through the window, she breathed a sight of relief at whom she saw.

"Carrie Leigh, what are you doing here?" Denise asked when she opened the door.

"I could as you the same thing, Mom." The teenager smirked. "Are you the new doorman for the Holdens?"

Denise grabbed her arm and ushered her inside. "Just get in here."

"Sure." She looked at her mother in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

"No – what are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to our house when I saw your car out front. I wanted to talk to you, so I figured I'd just pop in." She glanced around the foyer. "Where's Mrs. Holden?"

"She's…" Denise began, but was cut off by a baby's cry.

"Is that…?"

"A cat."

The second baby began to cry and Caroline raised an eyebrow. "And that's two cats? You know, when Jeremy told me you were helping a friend with a baby, I didn't think it would be at the Holden's. Did Amanda or Emmalin have a secret teenage pregnancy without telling me?"

"Caroline Leigh Sherwood…" Denise scolded.

She held up her hand. "Don't worry, Mom, I won't even ask."

Denise smiled. "Good."

"Can I get a little help in here?" Roxy's voice came from the other room.

"That's not very discreet, Roxy," Denise said as she walked in followed by Caroline. "What if it was Lenore Baker?"

"Lenore calls you 'mom' now?" Roxy asked, as Denise took one of the babies from her arms.

"What if I brought her with me?" Caroline took the other baby and began to bounce him up and down gently as she walked. "Mrs. Baker and I hang out all the time – we're in a book club."

"Very funny, Caroline."

Denise looked from Roxy to her daughter. "You two know each other?"

"I met Mrs. LeBlanc a couple weeks ago when I was on a run," Caroline explained.

"My youngest threw a ball at her head," Roxy added. "And she still gave me her number for if I ever need a sitter."

"Yet you haven't called."

"Maybe if you'd start calling me Roxy instead of Mrs. LeBlanc," Roxy joked, getting a smile from both Denise and Caroline.

"I'll work on it," Caroline told her.

"That's all I ask."

Denise changed the subject. "So, Caroline, what's so important that you had to talk to me right now?"

"Nothing." She shifted the baby in her arms to free her left hand. "Just this." The sun glinted off the diamond on her ring finger. "Thomas proposed yesterday."

"Congratulations, sweetie." Denise smiled. "Bring your hand over here."

Caroline obeyed with a grin. "It was his grandmother's."

"It's beautiful."

"Thank you." She studied her mother's face. "You don't look surprised – did Jeremy say something after I called him?"

"No, but Thomas met with your dad a few weeks ago to get his blessing…"

"And Dad told you," Caroline finished, knowing how her parent s felt about full disclosure.

"I was thrilled then and I'm thrilled now that you said yes."

"And Dad?"

"He gave his blessing."

"I know, but I want to know what he thinks."

"He wants you to finish school – so do I."

"I will," she assured her. "Thomas doesn't want me to drop out either."

"I know he doesn't and so does your father, which is why he was thrilled too. Your dad's happy when you're happy."

"I just wish I could tell him how happy I am right now, you know?"

"I know," Denise smiled. "You can talk to him first thing the next time he calls."

"Yeah." She nodded and looked around the room, suddenly remember they weren't alone. "Where's Mrs. LeBlanc?"

"Kitchen." Roxy appeared in the doorway. "I wanted to give y'all some privacy, but now that it's all out in the open, congratulations!"

"Thanks!" She grinned. "It feels like I'm walking on air."

"It's supposed to." Denise smiled. "And now you need to float right on home and unpack."

"Killjoy." Caroline walked over to Roxy. "Can you take him?"

"Sure."

"Thanks." Caroline turned to her Mom. "Will you be home in time for dinner?"

"Maybe – you and Jeremy can start without me."

"Okee-dokee. Bye Mom. Bye Mrs. LeBlanc."

* * *

A/N: As always, I love feedback…please keep it coming!


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